Apart from Jimmy Butler, Zion Williamson might be the biggest name in the trade market right now. His future in New Orleans is increasingly getting more and more uncertain. So Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce took some time out during their podcast to figure out the high-flying forward’s next team.
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Six years ago, when Zion was entering the 2019 NBA Draft, he was considered a franchise-altering player, and the New York Knicks were very interested in him. They were in trade talks to try and move up to the 1st pick, which would ultimately remain with the Pelicans.
Now with the Zion experiment drawing to a close in NOLA, Pierce and Garnett attempted to put together a trade that would finally make Williamson a Knick. “If I’m the Knicks, I’m tryna get him [Zion]. Right now,” Pierce began on ‘The Ticket and the Truth’. “You got a lot of cats expendable.”
His championship-winning teammate and co-host KG quickly said, “Okay, name them.” Hesitantly, Pierce recommended Josh Hart, but Garnett was having none of it.
“Oh we don’t want that. For Zion? We don’t want the character, we need some talent we can build off of. Who else?” KG argued on behalf of the Pelicans front office.
“Uh, you need to come out at, uh, who’s the shooter? What’s the shooter’s name?” the Truth asked, begetting a hilarious clapback from Garnett. “Oh we don’t want him. Because you don’t even know him. So listen, can we get Big Body [Jalen Brunson]?”
Hesitantly, Pierce recognized that the trade negotiation wasn’t going to work out. He correctly assumed that the Knicks wouldn’t move Brunson for Williamson, to which Garnett asked about the availability of Karl-Anthony Towns.
“He not available. You know what, we ain’t got nothing for y’all,” the 2008 Finals MVP finally admitted.
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Williamson’s trade talks have ironically picked up steam since he returned from injury.
He missed 27 games due to his hamstring and appeared in his 7th game of the season last week. However, shortly thereafter, the New Orleans Pelicans would suspend their star forward for being late to a team flight, suggesting to some that they are happy to burn bridges with him.
To be fair, it’s not entirely puzzling when you look at the team’s 9-32 record. They are squarely out of Playoff contention and are instead in the fight for the #1 pick. With that in mind, Pierce and Garnett considered a second potential trade for Zion Williamson.
“Ooh, I got one. Zion for Joel Embiid. I’mma pair him with [Tyrese] Maxey, the two young guys. They’re the same age,” Paul Pierce suggested. It makes sense from the point of view that both players will likely play the same amount of games. As the Truth put it, “they’re both injured.”
“Now that’s some s**t on s**t right there. Lemme get your s**t, you take my s**t,” KG quipped. That’s a harsh but unfortunately fair assessment of what an Embiid for Williamson swap would achieve from the former league MVP.
